


After the Fall

by dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Drama & Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:04:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11666913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd/pseuds/dngrs_untld_hrdshps_unnmbrd
Summary: A Titan and a Warlock go in search of Commander Zavala after the Red Legion attack on the City in Destiny 2. My take on how this would go. Obvs not canon. Can’t wait to find out how it does happen. Probably less potential for kissing in the canon version. Some swearing.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a companion story to Before the Fall but they can be read in either order. I wrote After the Fall first but Before the Fall is set prior. They both feature Piax and Andara, my OCs.

There was a silver shimmer, then a double  _whomp_  and two women materialized out of nowhere, one in silver-and-yellow robes and the other clad in blue armour.

The first woman, a Warlock bond gleaming bright blue on her arm, looked around doubtfully. ‘I don’t know, Piax. Looks like a goddamn empty wasteland.’

Crumbling ruins rose from a jungle of fleshy plants. The sky was a wan, smoggy yellow. The second woman stared silently at the vista and her eyes fastened on a spot in the distance, near the ocean shore. ‘He’s there. Come on.’

Andara started. ‘What? How do you know?’

But Piax didn’t reply. She set off at a ground-eating jog that Andara knew Piax’d be able to keep up for hours.  _Ugh, Titans._  Andara followed a moment later, already missing her Sparrow.

After thirty minutes she was sweating and out of breath. ‘Piax, slow down. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.’ But Piax didn’t break her stride, merely bounding up a rocky slope and peering at the ruins beyond.

She’d not been meant to go on this mission but when she’d overheard Ikora and Andara discussing her commander she’d insisted. A Titan should seek out Commander Zavala. She’d felt that strongly in her heart. Whatever had happened to him during the battle against the Red Legion, only another Titan would understand. It had to be something truly awful to make him leave the Vanguard.

It took nearly four hours to trek down to the ocean as they had to make detours around several wide ravines. When they finally reached the ruins by the sea, Piax stopped, her hands clenching and flexing at her sides.

Andara stared at the back of her friend’s blue-haired head. If Zavala really was in there this was going to suck for Piax. Deserting Ikora and Cayde and leaving them to deal with the Red Legion alone? That was low. Deserting your faction, the Guardians who looked up to you and needed you? That was fucking cold.

But there was no point drawing it out. She strode ahead to the broken front doors. ‘Come on, Bluebottle. Didn’t think you were afraid of a mouldy old building.’

Piax’s angry retort made Andara grin. ‘Who are you calling Bluebottle, awoken? I’m not afraid.’

‘Get a move on, then, you’ve been holding me back all day.’

They found him on the roof, arms folded, clearly waiting for them. Andara guessed he’d seen them coming from a long way off. Didn’t come meet them and make their journey any easier, oh no, not the big important commander. Though he wasn’t so important now, was he, hiding out here on Titan. He looked diminished without his armour, and wore a heavy grey tunic over his breeches and boots. The expression in his glowing eyes was shuttered as ever. 

Zavala regarded the Guardians. The Warlock was wrinkling her nose as if she found him abhorrent. The Titan’s face was stiff with shock. 

Then he saw it. The mark fluttering at her hip.  _His_  mark. His personal mark that he’d worn ever since he became commander. He’d torn it off and thrown it to the ground when the City fell. There was no Tower left to protect. No factions to lead. All laid waste. Gone.

Seeing her bearing his mark was too much, like she was mocking him, and suddenly he didn’t give a damn why they had come. They didn’t belong in his world, nor he in theirs. He pushed past them and made for the stairs, and neither Guardian said a word to call him back. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

‘He’s done, Piax. He’s given up. We’ve been here for three days and he hasn’t even asked about the Guardians; Ikora and Cayde; no one. He doesn’t care anymore.’

Piax tensed. She’d barely spoken to Andara since the first day they’d arrived on Titan. She hadn’t approached Zavala either, even though that was the whole point of her being there, that she would understand him. But she was rapidly coming to see that she didn’t know the first thing about what Zavala was thinking, or what she should say to him. Outside the Tower, out of that familiar armour, she realised she barely knew him and was starting to feel foolish for coming.  

Andara watched Piax polishing her already clean pulse rifle.  _She’s terrified that if she talks to him he’ll disappoint her even more._

Piax rammed a clip home and peered through the sights. ‘He just needs more time.’

Andara cast her eyes at the filthy, mossy ceiling. This dump was getting her down. ‘He –’

But Piax was heading for the door. ‘I’m going out on patrol. Back in a few hours.’

Andara watched her go. Titans and their goddamn patrols. Whatever, she’d speak to Zavala herself. Her brief had been clear: find him and bring him back or–Ikora had murmured this to Andara out of Piax’s hearing–find out once and for all if he was truly gone so they could plan how they would move forward without him. Ikora’s expression had been grim. The faction leader wanted Zavala back, but was preparing for the worst.

She found Zavala on the roof again. Together they watched Piax picking her way along a canal, her bright blue hair standing out against all the green and grey. Andara broke the uneasy silence. ‘Since you won’t ask, I’ll tell you. Ikora sent us to find you. She’s got all the Warlocks with her, and a lot of the Titans, too.’

Zavala’s hands clenched on the broken concrete wall. ‘I see.’

_Your Titans_ , she wanted to add. But she was going to be matter of fact about this. If he didn’t care, she didn’t either. ‘I’m here because Ikora asked me to find you and ask you if you were coming back.’

He said nothing, his eyes following Piax, and she couldn’t resist adding, ‘ _She_ insisted on coming. Wanted to do her bit. She loves Ikora almost as much as she loves you.’

Zavala looked away, giving the slightest shake of his head.

‘They’re a mess since you’ve been gone, just so you know.’

‘The Titans are strong. They’ll be all right once the next commander steps up.’

_Hell_. He really wasn’t going to come back and she’d have to tell Ikora so; Ikora who looked like she’d aged ten years since Zavala had been gone. It was all very well to not care about Zavala, but she did care about Ikora. Why had the Warlock leader chosen her to do this? She didn’t now how to pep-talk Zavala back to the Vanguard.

‘And just who is the next commander supposed to be?  _Sir_ ,’ she added, hard and ironic.

But he wasn’t paying attention to her. Piax had clambered to the top of a broken monument and sat looking out across the ruins. There was dejection in the slump of her shoulders, visible even at this distance.

Irritation and pity for the young woman welled up inside her. She rounded on Zavala. ‘Don’t do it because I’m asking, or Ikora’s asking. Do it for the Titans. Do it for her. She loves you. Like,  _loves_  you. Lights up when you’re around. Always did, from the moment she set foot in the Tower. Would do anything for you. Did you ever notice? Were you ever grateful? Bet she trains thinking,  _This is for Zavala_. Every patrol. Every fight.’ She made a disgusted noise, like she’d never heard of anything so misguided.

Even from this distance he could see his mark at the young Titan’s hip. She didn’t wear it to mock him, he’d realized. If he didn’t feel so sick about what had happened he might find it touching. ‘You sound contemptuous. I thought she was your friend.’

Andara pursed her lips and said in a softer tone, ‘She is. I don’t know, maybe I’m envious, though looking at her now I don’t know what of. She’s a fucking lightning rod for emotions and I just, I don’t like to feel too much these days. Since it happened.’

Something flickered over Zavala’s face. A grimace that seemed to say,  _You and me both._

Anger surged through her. ‘We’re not having a moment here, buddy. I know you don’t want to come back and I’ll tell Ikora so.’

He rounded on her, the blue light in his eyes blazing. ‘Then why are you still here?’

Andara flung an arm at Piax. ‘ _Her_. I wanted to leave days ago but she said you needed time. You don’t need time. You need a thumping.’

He looked back at the Titan atop the plinth. She’d gathered stones into her lap and was throwing them one by one at something he couldn’t see. ‘Tell her there’s nothing time can do. The Titans are better off without me.’

‘I’m not your goddamn messenger. Tell her yourself.’ Andara narrowed her eyes at him. She could see from his stony face he wasn’t going to tell Piax anything. They would go back to Ikora having failed, and Piax would give up. How long until the rest of the Titans did too?

‘You’re pathetic, you know that?’ Shaking her head, she walked away.


	3. Chapter 3

Another day dawned and they were still there. Why wouldn’t they leave him alone? He had commanded the Vanguard to utter devastation and it was only right that he should fall on his sword. He would have taken that ancient directive literally if he thought he would stay dead.

_You’re pathetic_.

His one comfort was that he’d made room for a new leader to rise, someone who wouldn’t make the same mistakes he had.

_But what were my mistakes? Was it the defences? Did I grow complacent?_

Walking to a window he spied the two Guardians standing in the ruins, talking. The blue-haired Titan was throwing stones again, her manner disconsolate.

Piax. That was her name. She came to the Tower just six months ago, a newly born Guardian. Her eyes had been like saucers as she’d taken everything in, wonder and delight flashing over her face as she stared out over the city. It had been a bright, clear day and it was a beautiful sight, especially to someone who’d been wandering lost a confused for several weeks. Her new home. He’d been happy to show it to her. As she took in what he told her about the Tower and the Guardians a smile had spread over her face. She had a purpose. She had a place.

He’d introduced her to the Speaker himself before passing her over to one of the more experienced Titans to get her settled in, and he’d watched her go, smiling to himself. It was unusual for a Titan to wear her heart so plainly on her sleeve. By the time most of them arrived at the Tower they wore graveness like armour, or quickly immersed themselves in tactics and weaponry as if they believed it was their duty to be solemn. 

Over the weeks he’d expected her to become like the others; tougher, closed off. Or that she’d hide her feelings behind humour or cloak herself in mystique. But she stayed the same, even through her first few deaths. They shook her, and she told him so. No one ever confided that to him. The new Guardians were always ‘fine’ with dying and being resurrected, though their hollow eyes and tight faces at first told him otherwise. On her second solo patrol she’d been partially disembowelled by a dreg and had had to shoot herself in the head. After being resurrected she’d spent the next hour throwing up at the memory.

But she seemed brighter for having told him about it and she’d smiled at Cayde as she was leaving. ‘Hey, I like your cloak today.’

Once she’d gone Cayde had turned in circles like a dog trying to catch its own tail.  ‘What did she mean by that? Have I sat in something?’

Zavala shook his head. ‘She meant what she said. She’s artless.’

‘Oh. Well, I haven’t seen her drawings so I wouldn’t know.’

In her free moments he often saw her sitting on the grass chattering to her Ghost, or reading with a group of Warlocks. He’d checked up on the system and she rarely went into the Crucible, though her stats in the field were excellent.

He emerged from these memories back into the real world with a thud. She was a loyal Titan and she’d come looking for him. He was going to have to talk to her. 

The Warlock had disappeared and Piax had wandered down to the shore. She was sitting staring out to sea and he went down to join her. She looked around in surprise when she heard his footsteps crunching on the stony beach.

He sat down next to her and they were silent for a long time, watching the ebb and wash of the waves. It was a good silence, like she’d finally accepted what he needed her to know. He wasn’t coming back.

Finally she spoke. ‘What was it like for you when you woke up? That first time, I mean, when your Ghost found you.’

He thought for a moment. ‘Confusing. The powers I had …’ He glanced at his hands. ‘I didn’t know how to control them. They seemed to wield me.’

She grimaced, as if remembering that feeling. ‘For me it was the not remembering that was the worst. I was really messed up about it. My Ghost reassured me that I wasn’t sick or mad, but I didn’t believe it till I got to the Tower. Even then I kept trying to force myself to remember who I was. Like if I wanted it badly enough and was strong enough I would.’

He nodded. It could drive a Guardian mad, that preoccupation. But she had accepted it like they all had to do. The Traveler had made them this way and it must have been for a reason. ‘What made you accept things?’ he asked. 

Her eyes flicked up to his and with a lurch he saw it–himself reflected in her eyes. What she thought he was. What she wanted him to be. Andara’s sour words came back to him, about Piax loving him, and it hadn’t occurred to him at the time that she’d meant love of anything but a comradely sort. He’d liked to be loved in that way, once, and he’d loved back, twice as hard, all his Titans. That was painful enough to think of now, what he’d lost in losing them all. But anything more, anything tender, felt obscene.

He stood up. ‘I’ve got a shortlist of names for the next Titan Vanguard leader. I want you to give it to Ikora.’

She watched him steadily. ‘No.’

The granite in her voice surprised him. His reply was automatic. ‘That’s an order, Guardian.’

Her face flushed crimson and she scrambled to her feet. ‘Only my commander can give me orders. Are you my commander or not?’

* * *

**Don’t you give up on him Piax and NEVER CHANGE all the love for sweet sensitive Titans who aren’t afraid to show their vulnerability.**

**All the love for resting-bitch-face Warlocks too, but resting-bitch-face Warlocks sometimes need to step aside for the sake of squishy-emotional-heartrendy scenes.**


	4. Chapter 4

‘Tell Ikora –’

‘Tell her yourself. Sir,’ she added quickly, flushing even darker. ‘Explain to her why you’re hiding here. Why you left us when we needed you the most.’

Zavala cast about for something to say. He didn’t need to talk to Ikora. The Vanguard leader would understand once Piax and the Warlock returned without him.

‘Some of the Warlocks are saying you’re a coward,’ she said, her voice catching. ‘That you spent too long in the Tower instead of being out in the field and you lost your nerve. I laid them out, because I know you’re not a coward.’ A pleading note had crept through her anger.

Talking about this was the last thing he wanted but he supposed someone should take what was in his heart to back to Ikora. He waved Piax toward a fallen tree on the shoreline. ‘Come on. Come and sit down.’

She sat beside him, her fists clenched on her knees, ready to fight him with words of her own.

He’d never expected nor sought to be happy. In a twisted way he’d enjoyed sacrificing what other Guardians delighted in, like getting close to those around them, like affection, because they were proofs that he was dedicated. The sacrifices meant he wouldn’t fail. That he shouldn’t have been able to fail. Except whomever he’d made that deal with had reneged, and he  _had_ failed. 

It was like drowning on dry land every time he thought about going back to being Vanguard leader. All that sacrifice, again? And for nothing? 

‘I’m so tired, Piax. I haven’t got anything left in me for the Vanguard. I feel like I’ve been resurrected for the first time, except that I remember everything that I’ve lost and there’s no way to get it back.’

Her face pinched for a second, like she was about to cry, and she quickly looked back at the waves. It must be painful seeing your mentor walk away but she’d be all right. She knew how to do what needed to be done.

‘Why do you wear it?’ he said, nodding at his mark that she still wore. It was a prompt, drawing her attention to it so she would take it off. He wanted to burn it.

She glanced down at it and rubbed the fabric between her fingers. Instead of answering, she said, ‘Do you know how many of the other Titans have duelled me for this? I’ve never fought so hard in my life.’

‘I didn’t think you liked the Crucible.’

‘I don’t. I know it’s useful, it’s just I don’t like seeing us pitted against each other. But I know what’s worth fighting for.’

He counted the seconds, wondering when the right time would come so he could get up and walk away and she wouldn’t follow him.

‘You’re thinking about this all wrong,’ she said.

Please let it be soon. He couldn’t take much more of this. ‘Am I?’

‘You’re already thinking about rebuilding. The rest of us are just wondering how we’re going to survive.’

Of course he was thinking that far ahead. You couldn’t lead without anticipating the future. 

But unease stirred within him as her voice broke with anger. ‘I thought you being here was just a misunderstanding. That I’d tell you we needed you and that would be enough.’ She made an impatient sound. ‘The others like to tell me I’m naïve.’

Something twisted in his chest. Did everything that was good and hopeful have to be snuffed out in this world? He needed her to leave here thinking that she could go on fighting without him. 

More to himself than to her, he said, ‘I keep asking myself what I did wrong. What mistakes I made that caused this terrible devastation.’

She turned to him, her face clearing as if she was finally understanding something. ‘You didn’t anything wrong. Our Light grew bright, and it made them envious.’

That was a different way to look at it. A rather beautiful way. Their enemies had always been jealous of the Guardians’ Light and the power it gave them. But the Light was more than power. It was hope in the Darkness. It was everything to the Guardians.

‘You made it bright, commander.’

Her hand was close to his and he reached out and grasped it. The touch was like a lifeline and he studied her fingers in his own. They were calloused from gripping weapons and there was dirt under her nails, but they were good hands. Small in his own, but strong. He rubbed his thumb over the fleshy part of her palm, thinking.

‘I don’t think I know how to go back.’

Her eyes were clear and warm when he looked up. ‘It’s easy. I’ll show you.’

He squeezed her hand tightly, and looking at her was like seeing the settlement for the first time after his confused wanderings. Though it was little more than a ragged village it had been a place and a purpose. That look on her face was a purpose. 

She had the Light in her eyes. 

_One more time. I might have it in me to try one more time. Maybe more, if I’m needed, because wherever the Guardians are is where I belong. However they’ll have me._

With her free hand Piax made to unfasten his mark from her hip, but he stopped her. ‘No. I want you to keep it. You fought for it, like a Titan should fight. And I think it’s right I have a new one now.’

The smile that broke over her face was like the dawn, fresh and clear over a new horizon, and something twisted in his chest again, though it was a good feeling this time. He wished they could sit a little longer together in the peace of this forgotten world, but there were things to be done. There were always things to be done.

He let go of her hand and stood up. ‘Time to go, Titan. Move out.’

Piax leapt to her feet and cupped her hands around her mouth. ‘Andara!’ she bellowed up the beach, her voice echoing off the stone ruins. ‘Time to go. Mission successful. We’ve got Commander Zavala.’

* * *

Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! <3


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